Former bailiff ordered to house arrest

August 13, 2006

DELPHI, Ind. (AP) Â? A former Tippecanoe County court bailiff has been sentenced to house arrest and ordered to pay $6,100 in restitution for padding her work hours to make it appear that she had worked more than 1,000 hours of overtime.

Under her plea agreement, Currie sentenced Davis to 30 days on house arrest, ordered her to pay $6,162.21 in restitution within 10 days and do 60 hours of community service.

According to the plea agreement entered Thursday, if Davis successfully completes her 1 1/2 years on supervised probation and pays her restitution, her conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor.

Davis entered a similar plea agreement in February before Judge Don Daniel of Tippecanoe Circuit Court, but Daniel rejected the deal.

Davis was accused of padding her hours in 2003, when she was paid for more than 1,000 hours of overtime, which totaled more than $20,000 and augmented her regular salary by 75 percent.

The hefty overtime claims sparked a dispute between Superior Court 1 Judge Don Johnson and the county council, which initially refused to transfer funds to pay overtime and part-time costs in Johnson's court in December 2003.

Johnson responded with a mandate, and the council finally approved the transfer. Davis resigned three weeks later.